An increasing number of people are acquiring and caring for a great variety of companion animals. Many companion animal breeders, owners, and caregivers would like their companion animals to live longer and healthier lives. Breeders, owners, and caregivers of these companion animals have a desire to understand the physical and biological attributes, genetic makeup, heritable disease, disorder background, and longevity of their companion animals. While companion animals and other animals generally live longer and have a better quality of life today due to improved nutrition and medical care, substantial investments in time, effort and financial resources are made to characterize the health state of those companion animals. There is also a desire to conduct periodic health assessments of those companion animals.
It would be of value to provide a method for assessing the health of a companion animal. There are many indicators of health and wellness in companion animals, including markers such as biomarkers, behavioral indicators, biometrics, etc. An example of an indicator of the health and wellness of a companion animal is the mobility of the companion animal. A companion animal may have an expected mobility based on the companion animal's chronological age but the actual mobility of the companion animal may vary from the expected mobility as the companion animal ages. This variance may be a result of any number of factors, such as, but not limited to, activity level, weight management, disease, arthritic conditions, etc. The observation of the actual mobility of the companion animal can be utilized in determining the biological age of the companion animal. A disparity between the chronological age and biological age can be an indicator of the health and wellness of the companion animal. It would be helpful to develop an individualized management program recommendation for the companion animal. Such a management program can maintain, enhance or improve the companion animal's biological age through dietary modification, supplement administration, weight loss/management plans, physical activity recommendations, veterinary intervention and combinations thereof. The maintenance, enhancement and/or improvement of the biological age of the companion animal may be assessed and/or documented through caregiver perception, veterinary assessment, and/or subsequent determinations of biological age. It would be beneficial to provide a method for assessing the impact of the management program on the biological age of the companion animal.